It is known to provide single and double track elements along a forestay to carry a sail thereon rather than the sail be carried directly on the stay. A double track element enables a first sail to be pre-loaded on one track in readiness for substitution for an already raised second sail on the other track. Further, sail furling means for such tracks are known, these operating by rotating a track member about a supporting stay and thereby roll-furling a sail about with the track. Devices relating to these arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,609 and other patents referred to therein and also in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,755.
Each of these known devices have drawbacks, for example, a disadvantage with a headsail having a luff edge incorporating a bolt rope slidingly mounted in an associated track such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,609 can be the lack of control over the sail immediately upon lowering. More particularly, the continuous nature of the bolt rope requires substantially complete withdrawal of the luff of the sail from the associated track to achieve lowering. The result can be an unrestrained sail on a fore deck until appropriate storage can be achieved. To some extent this problem is overcome with a sail where the luff rope thereof is retained by spaced apart slides such as disclosed in my earlier patent aforesaid. However, such slides are not particularly suitable for use with roller furling apparatus as they form protrusions which can be detrimental to the fabric of a sail rolled thereabout. Further, as such slides are subject to tensile forces they are prone to fracture necessitating a generally robust structure utilising relatively expensive materials. For these reasons and because my earlier device incorporates a removable "pre-loadable" magazine which registers with a lower end of the supporting stay my earlier arrangement, in particular the slide, is not considered particularly suitable for use with roller furling apparatus.
Another unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,728 which has a similar removable "pre-loading" section, but with only one track, and is thus also not suitable for use with roller furling. Further, the slide of this patent includes an extending section by which a sail is affixed thereto and this would cause protrusions if used with roller furlong apparatus.
An object of this invention is to provide a sail support means which enables the advantages of sail track elements to be utilised With roller furling means and which also provides for controlled retention of a luff of a sail with lowering of a sail down an associated track. In particular it is an object of this invention to provide a sail support slide for use in such mechanisms.